Happy 2014 everyone! I’m sure many of you are nursing some healthy hangovers today after last night’s festivities but the beat goes on. Why not start planning for your next night of musical festivities. Dick Clark may be gone but that doesn’t mean you can’t still have a rockin’ new year.

2013 was a great year in music for Brown Paper Tickets. We ticketed a ton of shows featuring up-and-coming and well established artists, as well as a whole slew of great festivals, tours and house shows.

2014 is already looking like another banner year and today on the Mid-Week Beat, I thought I’d share some exciting shows that are happening in this first month of the new year. Doesn’t matter what kind of music you dig: folk, blues, metal, singer/songwriters, r&b, classic rock or ska; we got you covered.

Check these out, enjoy the tunes and then get back in bed. New Year’s day is all about recovery.

Saturday, January 4 I Ramblin’ Jack Elliott – San Francisco, California

One of the last direct links to the great folk traditions of this country, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott is one of the legendary foundations of American folk music. In the tradition of roving troubadours Jack has carried the seeds and pollens of story and song for decades from one place to another, from one generation to the next.

In 1950, he met Woody Guthrie, moved in with the Guthrie family and traveled with Woody to California and Florida, from the redwood forests to the Gulf Stream waters. Along the way he learned the blues first-hand from Leadbelly, Mississippi John Hurt, the Reverend Gary Davis, Big Bill Broonzy, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, Jesse Fuller and Champion Jack Dupree. So it’s fitting that in 2011, he received a Grammy Award in the Traditional Blues category for his album, A Stranger Here. He received the National Medal of Arts award and was honored with a special dinner at the White House.

Recently the award-winning film The Ballad of Ramblin’ Jack introduced a new generation to his timeless music and yarns.  SF Live Arts is honored to have this national treasure start their concert year.

Americana/country/rockabilly singer Vikki Lee opens the show.

Monday, January 6 I Keb’ Mo’ and Friends with Beth Nielsen Chapman, JT Hodges and Casey Wasner – Nashville, Tennessee

Keb’ Mo’ is a three-time American Grammy Award-winning blues musician. He is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, currently living in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife Robbie Brooks Moore.

He has been described as “a living link to the seminal Delta blues that travelled up the Mississippi River and across the expanse of America.” His post-modern blues style is influenced by many eras and genres, including folk, rock, jazz and pop. The moniker “Keb Mo” was coined by his original drummer, Quentin Dennard, and picked up by his record label as a “street talk” abbreviation of his given name, Kevin Moore.

Join Kind of Blue Music for an intimate night of music in the round to benefit the Abrintra Montessori School, hosted by Montessori dad, Keb’ Mo’ himself.

Other artists will be: BETH NIELSEN CHAPMAN, JT HODGES and CASEY WASNER.

Raffle will include a beautiful Bedell Acoustic Guitar signed by the artists.

Sunday, January 12 I EYEHATEGOD with CATTLE DECAPITATION, NAUSEA, OBLITERATIONS – Los Angeles, California

Eyehategod is an American sludge metal band from New Orleans who formed in 1988. They have become one of the most well known bands to emerge from the NOLA metal scene. Throughout the years, their core line-up has remained, with the exceptions of the bass guitarist, a slot in which several musicians have played, and the death of drummer Joey LaCaze in 2013.

Eyehategod have noted Melvins, Carnivore, The Obsessed, Discharge, Black Flag, Corrosion of Conformity, Black Sabbath, Celtic Frost, Confessor and Saint Vitus as key influences to their sound. Heavy, detuned, and bluesy guitar riffs dominate the band’s discography. They are combined with walls of feedback and tortured vocals to create a harsh misanthropic vibe.

This show is part of the band’s 24th Anniversary tour and features specials guests Cattle Decapitation, Nausea and Obliterations.

Friday, January 17 and Saturday, January 18 I John Doe – Denver, Colorado

John Doe is an American singer, songwriter, actor, poet,guitarist and bass player. Doe co-founded the much-praised L.A. punk band X, of which he is still an active member. His musical performances and compositions span the rock, country and folk music genres. As an actor, he has dozens of television appearances and several movies to his credit, including the role of Jeff Parker in the television series Roswell.

In addition to X, Doe performs with the country-folk-punk band The Knitters and has released records as a solo artist. In the early 1980s, he also performed on two albums by The Flesh Eaters.

Doe will be performing two solo sets at Denver’s legendary Lion’s Lair. Tickets for Saturday’s show can be purchased here.

Friday, January 24 I Andre Williams and the Goldstars with Depravos De La Mour – Chicago, Illinois

Zephire Andre Williams is an American R&Band punk blues musician who started his career in the 1950s at Fortune Records in Detroit. His most famous songs include the hits “Bacon Fat” (1957) and “Cadillac Jack” (1966).

In the early 1960s, Williams co-wrote Stevie Wonder’s first song, “Thank You for Loving Me.” Williams’ “Shake a Tail Feather” was also a hit in 1963 for the Five Du-Tones and then for Ike & Tina Turner. Alvin Cash & the Crawlers also made a hit out of the Williams song “Twine Time”. As well as these hits, Williams also supervised the making of two albums by The Contours. Additionally, in the 1960s, Williams was the manager and roadie for Edwin Starr.

In 1999, he began his relationship with Chicago-based record label Bloodshot Records by recording a country album with The Sadies, entitled Red Dirt. In 2000, Williams released The Black Godfather, with two songs backed by The Dirtbombs. A return to soul-style music came with Aphrodisiac in 2006. In 2007, Williams finished recording an album with the New Orleans based band, Morning 40 Federation. The album, titled Can You Deal With It, was released by Bloodshot Records in 2008 and is credited to Andre Williams & the New Orleans Hellhounds (the pseudonymous Morning 40 Federation).

The 2007 documentary Agile Mobile Hostile: A Year with Andre Williams told of Williams’ early career at Fortune Records, his hard life on the streets of Chicago in the 1980s, drug and alcohol abuse, his return to the stage and recording studio in 1995, and his current life and musical career.

** WARNING! This clip contains language that may be offensive to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised. **

Saturday, January 25 I Al Stewart – Central City, Colorado

Ask Al Stewart to sum up where he is now, musically speaking, and you’re likely to wind up two steps behind where you started; this is by no means an unusual circumstance in conversation with Al, keenly aware as he is that making a leap forward often entails taking a step backward. Sometimes it’s into the library stacks where the late historian Ms. Tuchman dug for material. Sometimes it’s into the record stacks where the late rocker Mr. Cochran made his mark as a teenager singing his “Summertime Blues” so many summertime’s ago.

In many ways, the summertime of Stewart’s 2009 much more resembled his summer of 1969 than it did the summer of 1979, when his multi-million-selling “Year of the Cat” and “Time Passages” were staples of FM radio, and he was touring with saxes, synths, singers, and all the accoutrements pop stardom brings. “I don’t think I ever knew how to be in front of a band,” says Al, a little modestly. “I always felt I was loitering there while they were doing all the work.”

With the release of Uncorked, Al and musical partner Dave Nachmanoff take a trip through Stewart’s musical back pages, both in terms of the musical catalogue (they did have nearly 20 albums’ worth of songs to pick from), and in terms of performance style. After all, Al made his bones in the massively fertile folk scene that was London in the late ’60s, and he numbers among his contemporaries the likes of guitar wizards Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, singer-songwriters Roy (“Hats Off To”) Harper and Richard Thompson, and a former flatmate named Paul Simon, who went on to some celebrity upon returning to America.

Friday, January 31 I English Beat – Costa Mesa, California

The Beat (known in North America as The English Beat and Australia as The British Beat) are a 2 Tone ska revival band founded in Birmingham, England, in 1978.Their songs fuse ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock, and their lyrics deal with themes of love, unity and socio-political topics.

The Beat, consisting of Dave Wakeling (vocals, guitar), Ranking Roger (vocals), Andy Cox (guitar), David Steele (bass), Everett Morton (drums), and Saxa (saxophone), released three studio albums in the early 1980s: I Just Can’t Stop It (1980), Wha’ppen? (1981) and Special Beat Service (1982), and a string of singles, including “Mirror in the Bathroom”, “Too Nice To Talk To”, “Can’t Get Used To Losing You”, “Hands off She’s Mine”, “Save It For Later” and “All Out To Get You”.

After The Beat, Dave Wakeling formed General Public with his mate Roger. The band took off quickly, scoring numerous hits off the their three studio albums. Dave Wakeling has continued to keep The Beat alive and strong and continues to tour the world as The English Beat with an amazing all-star ska backing band playing all the hits of The Beat, General Public, and his new songs.